I Like Big Pumps and I Cannot Lie

Okay, to be honest, no, I don't.  And I do have to lie about that quite often...

Whenever I visit an aquarium - be it part of a conference tour or when visiting a friend or colleague - there is often a behind-the-scenes component to the visit.  When friends visit my zoo, I often take them behind-the-scenes.  Usually that means meeting up with an animal or two.  At aquariums, however, this usually mostly consists of being taken for a tour of the life support systems.

Every aquarium employee I have ever met seems to be absolutely fascinated by the magic of the life support systems.  The pumps, the filters, the chillers, the ozonators, and all of the other things which are extremely important and which I have only the murkiest of understandings of.  It's all essential to the operation of the aquarium and I'm really glad that these technologies have been developed and that there are people who understand them and are passionate about them.

They bore me to tears.

I've never been enamored with the technology that goes into animal care, as important as I know it all is.   It's been a handicap for me sometimes, professionally.  People start to explain it and my brain crawls out of my ear and chases after a frog that it sees hopping by.   I've always been enamored with the animals.  

Part of it is that I've been given this tour so many times at so many places, and I swear, they're all the same.  Every aquarist walks me down the narrow walkway between the loud, throbbing machinery and affectionately pats each one and tells me how many gallons go through it an hour and what the filtration rate is and then I start going blank-eyed and looking around for a fish to watch.  

The aquarists are an extreme example, but the herp people get like that too, when you get them going about their lamps and heaters and misters.  It's just that with aquatic systems, it's a lot more essential to get every detail right and working properly to keep everyone alive.  A snake, especially one in an otherwise heated building, can stand a little dip in temperature if a bulb burns out.  Fish don't last too long once those pumps die.

I don't begrudge the technologically-inclined.  I'm actually extremely grateful for them.  In many ways I envy their understanding and appreciation of such an important aspect of animal care.  It's just that I know that I'll never be one of them.